Beyond Terror discussed at Middle East Forum fundraiser in Chicago on 05/22

SOOP founder Wade Fransson attended a Middle East Forum (MEF) fundraising luncheon in Chicago. MEF’s President, Daniel Pipes, who contributed the Foreword to Anne Marie Waters’s book, Beyond Terror, asked to have Wade introduce the book and discuss its relevance.

Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, has been called “an authoritative commentator on the Middle East” by the Wall Street Journal and “perhaps the most prominent U.S. scholar on radical Islam” by the Washington Post.

“Every European country with an advanced Islamist problem has a political party in parliament focused on dealing with this challenge – except one, the United Kingdom. Anne Marie Waters, the author of the book in your hands or on your screen, is one of the few who can fill the gap.” — Daniel Pipes

Sam Westrop, Director of MEF’s Islamist Watch project, was host at the luncheon, and shared news on his portfolio, in addition to general updates on the progress and success of MEF.

Foreword to Beyond Terror

By Daniel Pipes

Anne Marie Waters, the author of the book Beyond Terror, is one of the few who can fill the gap. As Beyond Terror: Islam’s Slow Erosion of Western Democracy amply shows, she has the biography, skills, knowledge, and will to found a civilizationist party. Indeed, she initiated the process in late 2017 by establishing For Britain, a party “for the forgotten majority.”

Seen in this light, Beyond Terror serves the triple purpose of self-introducing Waters to the public, documenting the civilizational problem, and laying out her policies.

The self-introduction emphasizes her and the Left’s mutual disaffection; it shows how criticism of Islamism rendered her longstanding political home no longer hospitable. I found her insider’s views illuminating, especially how pro-Islamism has become integral to the Left’s worldview and program.

It’s reached the point, Waters explains, that “the modern political Left will turn on its comrades if they fall out of favor with Islam.” Strangely, opposing “a far-Right religious extremism that openly discriminates and condones violence against women, executes homosexuals, and punishes dissenters with the sword” gets one in big trouble.

Waters is shy about providing specifics on her travails in starting the party (did you not wonder why this very British-oriented book is published in the American Midwest?) and discussing future tactics. I look forward to more information from her on these topics.

Waters understandably does not include such a recommendation. She writes: “I do not believe that Islam and Islamism are distinct. … Islamism is merely the political implementation of the doctrines of Islam.” In contrast, I hold the two are distinct: Islam is the entire faith, Islamism is one (extremist) interpretation of it. For Waters, Islamism represents the only true form of Islam; for me, it is just one way of implementing Islam and other, more benign interpretations exist and are equally valid.